Dr Julian Lewis:  To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what additional steps he plans to take to protect leaseholders from costs arising from (a) the misuse of flammable cladding and (b) other unsafe structural design features used in the (i) construction and (ii) modification of the apartment blocks containing their flats. [583]

[Due for Answer on 17 May.] 

ANSWER

The Minister of State for Housing (Christopher Pincher):  Longstanding independent safety advice has been clear that unsafe cladding poses the greatest risk to buildings, because it can act as a fuel to a fire. Our approach prioritises action on the risks of unsafe cladding – the costs for remediating this are high, and the risks posed by it are also high. The Government has announced a globally unprecedented investment in building safety and hundreds of thousands of leaseholders will be protected from the cost of remediating unsafe cladding on their homes. On 10 February the Government announced it will provide an additional £3.5 billion grant funding for remediation of unsafe cladding on buildings over 18 metres, which brings the total investment in building safety to an unprecedented £5.1 billion.

Lower-rise buildings between 11 and 18 metres, with a lower risk to safety, will gain protection from the costs of cladding remediation through a generous financing scheme. As part of this financing scheme, no leaseholder will pay more than £50 per month towards the cost of cladding remediation. This builds on steps already taken to support leaseholders, including the £30 million waking watch fund to help end excessive costs and new legislation in the Building Safety Bill which will ensure homes are made and kept safer in future. We will publish more details on how the schemes will work as soon as we are in a position to do so.